Secretary Adrian Fontes on the upcoming election

Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes joined “Arizona Horizon” to discuss last-minute election topics as the state prepares for the July 30 primary.

Fontes voiced concerns about the use of AI deep fakes circulating ahead of the Presidential Election and has been creating some as a series of tests to prepare.

“We’ve had unprecedented amounts of work done in the Secretary of State’s office,” Fontes said. “Three new parties, tons of people filing to run for President and a petition signature number because of the initiatives; that has never been seen.”

Regarding the CrowdStrike outage, Fontes mentioned there is no concern towards the election systems due to the tabulation equipment and ballot counter not being connected to internet. He gave credit to his amazing IT team for staying on top of issues and getting them cleared quickly.

Systems that are connected to the internet, such as the voter registration systems, are protected 24/7 by Arizona’s National Guard.

Fontes talked about ongoing lawsuits as well, saying, “The folks that have been challenging us based on lies, misinformation and disinformation, all they’re doing is wasting tax payer dollars.”

In regards to putting Vice President Harris on ballots, Fontes said, “We have plenty of time for all of the counties to meet their ballot printing deadlines.”